


Faster, Kill, Pussycat

by orphan_account



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Animal Transformation, Canon-Typical Violence, Eventual Smut, Feels, M/M, Magic Made Them Do It, Possessive Behavior, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Soul Bond
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-07-05
Updated: 2016-07-24
Packaged: 2018-07-21 17:13:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7396357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was, they all agreed, Shiro's fault that he and Lance had grown ears and tails, that Shiro suddenly had a temper problem, that Lance was even more annoying than usual, and that they were strangely unwilling to be separated. Lance was grateful that it wasn't his screw up causing trouble for a change of pace. Shiro was tired. Black and Blue were amused by how silly their humans were.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. What's New Pussycat

**Author's Note:**

> If you're interested in where the title comes from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyTPfifzqjo
> 
> I won't even attempt to justify or explain this.

If Shiro really thought about it he really should have seen something like this coming. Or, no, not like ‘this’ because this was actually ridiculous and made no sense and he couldn’t believe it had really happened. But something like this, on par with the currently insanity of events. You decide to pilot a semi-sentient (or maybe not semi) robot lion and accept some manner of psychic bond and you were basically asking for some manner of trouble, weren’t you?

And trouble was exactly what Shiro was getting. 

Not that he was surprised. Trouble was all he’d been getting for well over a year with little reprieve. His escape from the Galra was still a blur. Crashing back to Earth had turned out to be a scene from a nightmare, with him taken in and strapped to a medical table. Escaping had, in the end, landed him right back in space, fighting the Galra. Pidge’s father and brother were still missing. His lion had basically spat him out, which felt an awful lot like a rejection. 

Stung like one at least.

There wasn’t a lot of good lately, except for the team. He’d fallen in with them easily and they’d become like family almost unnervingly fast, each carving out a spot for themselves in their own unique way. He would lay down his life for any of them and not just because they were a team but because he cared about them. 

Which was how he’d ended up in the very situation they were in. Their trip through the compromised wormhole had damaged the castle so, at a loss for anything else to do, they’d set down on the first habitable planet. They had no idea where in the universe they were, having lost a huge chunk of their start chart data along the way, and it was going to take time for the castle to get back up to working order. They’d set to work, repairing the lions, repairing the castle, scanning the planet and the nearby planets hoping to find traces of anything at all. 

Pidge had picked up on Galran technology on a nearby moon. They’d been pretty sure it was unmanned but, either way, the potential information they could get from the computers was too valuable to not at least attempt to get. 

They’d found a small outpost, unmanned just like Pidge had predicted. Pidge and Hunk went in to investigated while the rest stayed outside in their lions, ready for the trouble that would inevitably crop up. Because there was always trouble. 

Always. 

This time it came in the form of an automated defense system Hunk unwittingly triggered. Dozens of drone ships and turrets had emerged from the moon’s surface and, while annoying, it wasn’t anything they hadn’t dealt with before and not something they needed Voltron for (not that Voltron was available, since Pidge and Hunk were running from drone forces inside the bases and shrieking loudly while doing so) so they’d set about doing just that. 

It would have been fine if not for the cannon. It had come rising out of the moon's surface, easily six stories high and glowing with the purplish-pink light that all Galran technology seemed to emit, including Shiro’s arm. He’s been the farthest away from it, ripping through the unmanned ships with Keith while Lance handled the turrets trying to shoot them down. He saw it rise up with a speed that didn’t match it’s bulk, saw it swivel around to focus onto Lance, and knew with stomach twisting certainty that the blast the cannon emitted would tear the Blue Lion, and Lance, apart. 

He knew it down to the marrow of his bones, just like he knew he was too far away to do anything and like he knew that no matter how fast and nimble Lance was he wouldn’t be able to get away. The memory played out with sickening clarity in his head, not this exact cannon but one just like it, ripping through some other race’s bioships, punching holes through multiple hulls and dooming thousands, hundreds of thousands maybe, to death all with one blast. He remembered the numbing horror of watching something like that play out, larger than life on the screen above the arena, another show for the Galra spectators to cheer over just as they did the gladiator matches. 

He remembered feeling helpless. Feeling like that place was well and truly the place he would die. There was no mercy in these people, no twinge of guilt for wiping out so many people, nothing but a lust to conquer and witness pain. He remembered being more afraid than he’d ever been, a cold sweat coating his skin and shaking. 

And then he was back in the moment, wrenched from the past by a shout that wasn’t really a shout. Rather it was in his head, an urgent soundless and wordless impression as a panel rose up from somewhere to the left of his chair. 

Everything slowed down around him. The cannon glowed bright then fired. Keith shouted, the Red Lion twisting around to jump to Lance’s aid, and Lance was silent save the heavy sound of his breathing as the Blue Lion started to leap up. 

It wouldn’t be enough. It was locked on, it would follow, it would rip through everything. Keith wouldn’t be fast enough. There was nothing-

_ Protect! _

He shook his head against it; it was loud, so loud, and seemed to be piercing him right through to his brain. There was panic welling up inside of him, so much panic and fear and nonono, he felt like it would burst out of him. It was his own but it wasn’t _ just _ his. If was his lion, Black, and he could feel teeth and claws like they were his own, feel  _ her  _ crushing anger and worry and concern and love? 

_ Help me. Give me your strength.  _

He saw Blue in his mind, gleaming metal, there was a bubble of affection in his chest so strong it stole his breath. He saw Lance too, felt a mixture of things: amusement, affection, caring, but some of that, a lot of it, was his, and he understood. 

He slammed his hand on the panel, felt a ripple of thanks, and then the world screamed and he screamed with it. 

He couldn’t explain exactly what happened. One minute he heard Keith shouting Lance’s name, heard Lance breathing in sharply, saw bright purple bending and twisting, eating up the distance to the Blue Lion so fast it shouldn’t have been possible, overtaking the Blue Lion. And then it struck something, black and blue and crackling as it blended together, and Shiro felt it. 

Black shook around him, rattling and creaking like an old roller coaster track as the cars raced over it, and there was pain but it wasn’t his and it wasn’t Black but it was them. Them and Lance and Blue and it was hot and terrible, like having his skin and the muscle underneath peeled away strip by strip, like having the bone set aflame and burned away to nothing, 

He was nothing, reduced to sparking nerves, rendered blind and deaf, falling into blackness. 

_ Protect you. _

\---

He came to all at once, a shout dying on his mouth as the memory of pain seized his mind and made his body spasm. It faded quickly, became a dull throb of a headache and something sharp and strange on the top of his head. He pulled his helmet off, letting it fall down near his feet and he pushed himself up from where he’d slumped over the controls. He saw he was...in front of the castle somehow. The only other Lion near was Blue, crouched low and mouth open. Hunk was in front of it, hands up in the universal gesture for ‘I mean no harm’.

Pidge, Keith, Allura, and Coran were in front of Black, peering up with near identical expressions of worry, kept away by a gleaming black dome. He sighed, brushing a hand over the controls, and didn’t bother feeling surprised or bothered by the warm pulse he felt sweep over him. He knew that whatever had happened they were closer now, that he was sure some part of Black was lingering under his skin, but he wasn’t ready to think about it yet. 

Everyone was in one piece and that was all that mattered. 

He was sure he could feel Black purring her agreement. 

He stumbled out of his lion, nearly falling over twice before gaining his footing. His back hurt, a stretching pain like when he had a muscle cramp but in a place that didn’t really make sense. He also felt off balance, swaying a little as he walked to leave the barrier Black had put up to keep the others out. 

The others. Who were staring at him like they’d never see him before. 

He reached up to rub at his temple while squinting at them. “What are you staring at? Is Lance okay? How did we get back to the castle?” 

Silence. Coran’s mouth and hands were moving but no sound was coming out. Allura had a hand over her mouth and her eyes were huge. Pidge had taken off their glasses and Keith was so blank faced it was almost scary. 

Shiro wasn’t someone who was easily unnerved, he liked to think at this point he was past being freaked out except in life or death situations and even then. But under the silent shocked gazes of his teammates he found himself nervous, panicked, a feeling like when he’d been backed into a corner in the arena bubbling up. He found himself wanting to squirm away or lash out or-

No, not lash out. Never that. 

“Guys,” Hunk’s voice, higher and thick with emotion, shattered the silence. Shiro winced; Hunk’s voice seemed to echo in his ears and was almost painfully loud. Why was he shouting like that? “I think we have a...oh. Shiro too?” 

Shiro turned, heart leaping into his throat when he saw Hunk was cradling an unconscious Lance in his arms. Shiro had two thoughts, one right after the other. 

The first was ‘Why the fuck did Lance have what looked like cat ears poking out from his hair?’. Two ears, a dark blueish-gray and furry, rounded and curved inwards. They were sitting above his actual ears by a few inches. 

The second thing was irritation-anger-at seeing Hunk carrying Lance. 

_ Mine!Ours! _

The two thoughts, or echos or impressions or he wasn’t sure anymore, overlapped and brought a boiling fury with them. His but not his but it didn’t matter because Lance was-

He heard a noise, a low rumbling growl, and felt vibration in his chest. Hunk’s eyes went comically wide and he stopped dead in his tracks. 

Because Shiro was growling at him, had bared his teeth in anger (and realized that his gums were sore and his tongue felt strange in his mouth and his teeth didn’t feel right either) and was now every aware that everyone was staring. He straightened up, lips falling over his teeth and put a hand to his head, suddenly dizzy. 

What Hunk had said choose that moment to sink in. Him too? 

He reached into his hair hesitantly and didn’t both holding back a soft curse at the feel of fur. And not just the feeling of fur under his fingertips but the feeling of fingers...somewhere. He could logically understand that it was on top of his head, a few inches above his scalp, but his brain refused to really make the connection. The ears were there, obviously, but they couldn’t be there and trying to fathom it made the pulsing behind his eyes get stronger. 

Allura cleared her throat then, with exaggerated slowness that made Shiro’s heart sink, put a hand on his shoulder. “Why don’t we get inside and get you both to the infirmary.” 

“Yeah,” Shiro said haltingly. “That sounds like a good idea.” 

She smiled gently then started to turn, inclining her head towards Coran who nodded rapidly before dashing off ahead of them. Shiro let himself be guided for apromixmentaly four steps then stopped, twisting around to look at Hunk. Who stopped again and actually shuffled backwards. 

He glared before he could stop himself-Hunk was taking what was histheirs further away how dare-then shook his head again, trying to banish to intrusive impulses. Shiro inhaled, commanding himself to be calm. It was a familiar exercise, focusing his breathing, narrowing his awareness down to himself, and willing the emotion he was feeling to bend to him. He couldn't afford to ever be out of control, was a walking weapon and being too angry or too scared or too anything could activate him. 

He exhaled then made himself put on a smile he didn’t feel. “I’m fine.” 

Allura looked skeptical but nodded anyway. He walked alongside her, Keith and Pidge close behind, but he kept his ears (all four of them apparently) trained on the sound of Hunk’s heavy footsteps. 


	2. The Lion Sleeps Tonight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Coran has a theory. Shiro has some anger issues. Lance is super cute when he's sleeping.

He’d never noticed before but the medical room smelled sort of...bad. Like strong cleaning solution and something else that made him want to turn around and leave because of how irritating it was to his nose. 

Shiro knew he was being ridiculous and yet he found himself watching Hunk very closely as the younger man laid followed Allura’s direction over to one of the med-beds. He couldn’t even find it in himself to try and be subtle about it, opting to just edge close, ignoring Coran’s request for him to sit down as well, and then shift around on the opposite side of the bed. 

Hunk side eyed him, eyebrows going up pointedly. “I think I can put Lance down without you watching my every move. ...At least stop growling.” 

Shiro frowned, arms crossed over his chest, irritation spiking. He wasn’t sure why exactly he was so upset, especially since Hunk could absolutely be trusted with Lance. He was Lance’s best friend, knew him better than any of the rest of them, it didn’t make any sense to be watching him, an uneasy feeling in his stomach. Hunk wasn’t going to hurt Lance, he knew that. 

And yet he didn’t bother responding to Coran’s summons until Lance was safely on the bed. Even then it was with a sullen look. Lance murmured softly, rubbing his face against his pillow, and his ears twitched then laid flat against his skull. They looked strange. Of course, how could a pair of animal ears not look strange, what a stupid thing to think. Shiro didn’t even want to think about what the ones on his head must have looked like. At least Lance was sort of...cute like that, with his peaceful sleeping expression giving him an almost soft look, messy hair falling over his face, and the soft gray-blue of his ears contrasting nicely against his hair color and-

What was he doing? 

Coran gave up on calling him away and instead walked to him. 

“Alright,” Coran said, looking as cheerful as ever. He had something that looked like a handheld scanner from a grocery store in his hand; it was emitting a soft blue light and humming softly. “We’re just going to do a quick scan with this little thing so if you could go ahead and jump out of your suit for me?” 

Shiro was mildly surprised, but not upset, that he wasn’t being shoved in a healing tube straight away. He prefered to not have to go in one if he didn’t have to. They made him anxious, the feeling of being trapped somewhere a little too much for him. Looking at it now made him feel even worse than he normally did, something like panic crawling over his skin. He did not want to go in there at all. 

He glanced back at Lance; he hoped he didn’t have to get in there either. The idea of having to watch over Lance inside of one of those tubes again...it was more than unease he felt at that. It was close to an itch in the back of his mind, full of worry and something else. Something darker and with an edge to it that made him think of claws. 

He pushed the suit down his hips then stopped, almost groaning in relief. He’d still felt odd, a tingling itch in his back but suddenly it was gone, like he’d finally scratched it. There was something else, a strange shouldn’t be there element and a stretch beyond himself. It was like how the ears felt, there but with an awareness that they didn’t belong.

The ‘shouldn’t be there’ feeling got stronger when he brushed against Lance’s bed. Something that should have been impossible because he was standing far enough away that there was no way he could touch it and yet he felt it, cool metal and soft sheets and

“Well. That’s interesting.” Allura said, voice carefully toneless. 

Shiro didn’t want to look, he really didn’t, but what else could he do. He turned, heart sinking to his stomach at the sight of a tail, long and thin, covered in short fuzzy pale purple fur and with a thick tuft of deep violet fur at the end. It was twitching restlessly and, now that he was focused on it, he could feel it doing so. It was like a pull and a shifting just under and at his skin, muscles that he was pretty sure hadn’t been there (or at least hadn’t worked like that) before moving around. 

It went still, as if responding to his shock. Which it may have been doing. It was, it seemed, his tail so why wouldn’t it respond to him? If he overlook the part where there was a tail growing out of his back and how that didn’t make any sense at all then everything made sense. 

“What the hell?” He said as he reached to touch it. 

Coran cleared his throat. “Perhaps you shouldn’t interact with it?”

Shiro froze, fingers a few inches from the fur covered appendage then drew his hand back. He wasn’t sure what harm touching it would do but Coran and Allura knew more about all the weird stuff in the universe than he could ever hope to even with his year as a Galran prisoner. He was willing to defer to them on this. But not touching didn’t stop him from staring at the twitching tail and, as Coran scanned him, putting a little effort into making it move. 

He didn’t manage to do much aside from wiggling his butt some, and making Pidge giggle behind their hand. There was, it seemed, more to working spontaneously grown tails than one would expect. 

“Fascinating.” Coran said as he twirled one end of his mustache. “Can you tell me what was happening when this happened?” 

Shiro lifted his shoulders to shrug. “I’m not sure. The last thing I remember is the cannon firing on Lance and the Black Lion helping to absorb the blast, I think then I woke up in front of the castle.” 

“The lion helped you?” Coran looked down at the device in his hand and touched something. Allura moved to peer over the older man’s shoulder and hummed before pointing at something on it’s small screen. Coran nodded back then looked up at Shiro again. “Explain exactly what happened please.” 

Shiro did as asked, doing his best not to leave anything out. He was hyper aware of Hunk and Pidge looking at him, and even more aware of Keith studiously not looking at him. He was in workout shorts and a t-shirt, what he he usually wore under the jumpsuit, but he felt like he might as well have been naked with the way everyone was looking, or not looking, at him.

Pidge interrupted once with “Your lion talked to you? With words?” only to look a little put out when he confirmed that yes, that was what happened. She grumbled about Green never speaking to her but relented when Allura shot her a sharp look. 

Coran asked questions about the barrier he’d seen, with Keith adding details and filling in what had happened that Shiro couldn’t remember. Keith had heard shouting over the coms, seen the barrier absorbing the cannon’s blast, and used the opening to destroy the cannon. After that Blue and Black had headed back to the planet, apparently of their own will, and neither Lance nor Shiro had answered any hails.

None of which, in Shiro’s opinion, answered why he’d suddenly sprouted a second set of ears and had a tail and couldn’t stop looking anxiously over at Lance. Who seemed to be having a better time than Shiro was, curled up around a pillow and snoring. If not for the gray-blue ears poking up through his hair and occasionally twitching back and forth, he would have been the picture of peace. 

“Well, I think I have a...theory, of sorts.” Coran said finally. “The lions are, I’m sure you’ve realized, connected to each other. This is why the five of you must be connected and in harmony, more or less, in order to form Voltron. It seems that you achieved a deeper level of connection with your lion that allowed you to not just connect to it and Lance, but to the Blue Lion as well. You pooled your power and were able to create a shield strong enough to protect Lance and Blue.” 

“Which is very impressive.” Allura added, offering him a smile. “That level of connection so soon is amazing. You should be very proud.” 

Shiro choose to have the grace to not point out that growing an ear and tails was cramping his sense of pride. Instead he nodded and motioned for Coran to continue. 

“It would seem that this link also allowed you to share pain with your lions, who were no doubt under immense strain, and that this may have caused some damage to you and Lance.” Coran looked a little excited the more he said, words coming out faster and starting to run together. “And that in order to repair this damage your lions...modified you to be more like them. I think the intention was to share their repair systems but, of course, such a thing would be complicated and have potential side effects.” 

Shiro blinked slowly. “I’m not sure I would call an ears and a tail ‘side effects’ Coran.” 

“Hmm. Well I don’t think they were intentional so side effects fits, doesn’t it?” The man pursed his lips thoughtfully. Shiro reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose. “Nonetheless it does seem that your DNA had been...tweaked slightly. You seem mostly the same but slightly...removed? LIke a genetic cousin. I’ll need to look into this data more to be sure about what it all means, and scan Lance for a more complete look, but for what it’s worth I don’t think you’re in any danger. It’s very unlikely the lions would do anything to hurt any of you.” 

Other than spitting him into space that one time. 

An echo of offended pride pricked at the back of his mind. He shook his head, trying to banish the feeling, and was left with an impression of laughter-or perhaps not exactly laughter but more like deep amusement- before the presence retreated. 

It was like when he was close to or inside the Black Lion, the same warm fondness, but stronger. Instead of just being a light brush he felt it deep in his thoughts, a pulse of affection and a promise of protection that radiated in the marrow of his bones. And he’d never been able to feel Black this far from her (her. How did he know she was a her now? What had that thought come from?). He wasn’t sure what to make of it at all. 

“Shiro?” Allura called to him gently. “Are you listening?” 

“Yes, sorry. Just thinking.” 

Coran nodded then waved a hand dismissively. “Of course. This is very strange for you no doubt. As I was saying it seems the new...additions are very much part of your body, as if they’ve been there all along. Connected with nerves and muscle and bone. Truly the lions are amazing to be able to cause such a change so rapidly.” 

Shiro was getting the feeling that Coran was enjoying all of this a bit too much. His eyes were practically gleaming and his hands were clasped together around the scanner; he was basically swooning. Allura sighed and shook her head. 

“We’re going to keep looking into things Shiro, to fully understand. It’s all speculation right now; these reading aren’t like anything in the ship’s files except for what we get from the lions and Voltron.” She tilted her head to the side, expression thoughtful. “The intersection of magic and technology had always been harder to grasp than either alone. That’s especially true when you involve living matter. We’ll run some more tests and get it figured out.” 

If that was supposed to make him feel better she was failing miserably. But Shiro couldn’t say that, wasn’t that sort of person, so he just nodded and made himself smiling placatingly, even though something angry was starting to well up in his chest. He didn’t know why but it was there, very real and setting his teeth on edge. 

He suddenly wanted to be somewhere else, far away from all this talking (which was doing a number on his ears. He could feel a headache coming on) and staring and out of this room with it’s weird nose burning smell. 

He glanced over at Lance, still sleeping peacefully and knew he couldn’t leave him here. Just the thought made the anger in him stronger, made him want to snap at the others. What was the point in all of this anyway? He should just take Lance and

And what? 

Coran followed his gaze then nodded empathically. “Right! We need to scan Lance as well. One of you help devest him of that suit if you would.” 

No one moved for a beat, startled silence hanging between them, then Pidge snorted, turning away. “Not it.” 

Keith shook his head and edged further away from the group, saying all he needed to without a single word. Hunk sighed loudly and shook his head. “I’ll do it. Jerks.” 

Shiro managed to do nothing, biting down on his tongue, right up until Hunk was leaning down. Then he stepped forward and reached out to grab Hunk’s wrist, forcing him to halt. Hunk’s eyebrows went up again. 

“Seriously?” 

Shiro understood the disbelief in his voice perfectly but he just...couldn’t let Hunk touch, undress, Lance. He couldn’t. “I’ll do it.” 

Hunk made a face Shiro had never seen before, with narrowed eyes and lips pressed into a thin bloodless line. “No.”

“No?” What did he mean no? Who was Hunk to tell him no? Did he not understand that Lance belong to Shiro, not him? 

“Yeah, no. You’ve been weird about Lance since you got out of your lion.” Hunk wrenched his hand away as his expression just became more determined. “I don’t know what’s up with you but-”

“Ugh. What are you all yelling about?” 

Shiro looked down, the knot of anger in his chest loosening at the sight of Lance, bleary eyed but awake, pushing himself up onto his elbows to glare at them. 

“Hunk and Shiro are fighting about who gets to undress you.” Pidge said matter-of-factly. 

Hunk scowled and Shiro, sanity reasserting its control, pinched the bridge of his nose against the headache he felt coming on. Lance’s eyes narrowed as he looked back and forth between them. 

“Really? You two? Keith I would have figured, he’s clearly in love with me-” Keith squawked indignantly. “But I mean...well. I suppose this was inevitable, I am pretty amazing. Plenty of Lance to go around. No need to fight!”

Hunk groaned. “Put him in the healing tube, please.” 

Shiro twitched at the memory of Lance, badly hurt and out of reach. 

“Why?” Lance frowned. “I feel fine and what the fuck is wrong with Shiro’s head? Dude you’ve got...fuzzy purple ears.” 

“And you have blue ones.” Keith said blandly. Lance’s head whipped around to look at him, eyes comically wide. 

“I have-” his hands flew up to touch his head. “What the fuck?”


	3. Kitty, Kitty, Shame on You

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Werecats? Werelions maybe.

Shiro braced himself, and could see everyone else doing the same, for what he assumed was going to be a massive, but not unwarranted, freakout from Lance. The blue paladin was blank faced, hands slowly and carefully feeling along the length and width of the furry ears poking out of his head. He could see them better now, with Lance not curled up against Hunk’s chest of cuddling a pillow, and Shiro had to admit his earlier ‘cute’ assessment hadn't been right. 

They were more than cute.

A few inches tall and wide, rounded on the top, with short dark blue-gray fur on the back and longer tufts, slightly lighter in color, lining the edges of the front. The insides of the ears looked to be skin, and furless, a deep tan close to Lane’s skintone. Lance’s hair flowed around them, brown making the blue color in the fur stand out that much more. The ears were curved, giving them an almost ‘cupped’ shape, and Shiro could see them twitching and flexing under Lance’s fingers. 

Shiro’s fingers itched to reach up and touch his own, to compare by touch and perception or maybe to find something to take a look at them in, and maybe to touch Lance’s as well. Or. Not maybe so much as ‘really wanted to touch his ears’. 

A lot. 

He felt/heard the echo of Black’s laughter again and an impression of soothing warmth. On its heels came an image of Blue and Lance and another wave of emotion, this time affection and..something else he couldn’t put a name to, but made his heart beat faster. 

Lance’s eyes narrowed and his ears laid flat against his head. “I have…cat ears. There are fuzzy fucking cat ears on my head. Did that...what...how...do you have a tail?!” 

Shiro winced; Lance’s voice had gotten higher and higher pitched before finally rising into what could only be called a ‘yowl’ at the end. Shiro wasn’t sure it was a noise a human should even be able to make but he also wasn’t sure what being human counted for anymore. 

Though. If he was honest he’d been wondering that for a while. 

“It looks that way, yes.” Shiro said glancing back at the appendage in question. It was swaying lazily, the purple tuft on the end sweeping the floor. The shifting stretch was becoming a little itchy as well, right below him skin. 

“Seriously.” Lance’s voice dropped to a deadpan. “Is this supposed to funny?” 

Allura frowned, head tilting to the side. “No, of course not. This is a very serious matter. Not fatal, as your lions would never use harmful magic against you, but certainly serious.” 

Dark eyes flicked over to Allura and then back to Shiro. Lance jumped off of the medical bed, the sheet that had been pulled up on him falling to the ground in a heap. His expression was uncharacteristically serious, brows knit together and mouth pressed into a thin line. He crossed the distance between them swiftly, stepping right into Shiro’s personal space until they were nearly chest to chest. 

A smell, faint but noticeable and  _ terrible,  _ like burning hair, tickled his filled his senses. Shiro swallowed the urge to gag and wrinkled his nose. On top of being a nauseating smell it was making his hair stand up as a sense of unease washed over him. It wasn’t right, a part of him muttered irritably, smelled like unhappiness and upset and-

“Ah!” Shiro yelped as pain, sharp like a knife, sliced its way up his back. He jerked back, teeth grinding together as more pain jumped up his spine and something tugged at the base of it. It was disorientating; he was able to process what it was and why it was happening but pain from his tail was just...his brain reeled at the jolt coming from a place that shouldn't be there. Still, he knew he was in danger and it didn't hurt that badly buy he lashed out anyway, snarling as he grabbed Lance by the front of his suit, hand glowing that sickly Galra pink. He hauled him closer, lips drawn back and teeth bared, heard him squeak as his eyes went huge and round. Someone shouted his name and grabbed his shoulder, Keith, but Shiro was focused completely on Lance, on bringing their faces so close together he could feel him breathing. He growled.

His tail, still stinging from being pulled on, slipped from between Lance’s fingers. 

There was a...something inside of him, pounding in his chest and lighting his blood on fire, that demanded he take action, show Lance that he’d done something wrong. Show him that Shiro was the one who was-

Between one breath and the next Lance’s eyes dropped, his shoulders hunched, and his head ducked. Shiro wanted to grab him by the neck and shake him and then was stumbling back, shaking his head and pressing a hand to his temple. Seeing Lance trying to make himself look smaller snuffed out the anger as if it had never been there before and left him acutely aware of the fact that he’d just attacked his teammate.

And not just attacked but had lost control of himself, even if just for a moment. He hadn't been thinking, not really, just reacting to hurt and anger and he could have hurt Lance. 

A sick feeling crawled in his stomach and, without realizing he was doing it, he took another step back. Hunk had already moved, putting himself between Lance and Shiro; he had a hand on Lance’s shoulder but his eyes were on Shiro. He didn’t look angry, exactly. Confused and wary, like he expected Shiro to attack him next. 

“I. Lance, I’m-” He stopped, words sticking in his throat and his tongue dry and thick, refusing to cooperate with him. 

This, hurting one of the others, was a scene from his nightmares. 

He could feel Black, knew she was concerned and upset and wanted him to calm down, but he couldn’t do it. All eyes were on him. The air was electric and still, as if everyone else was holding their breath and waiting for something. He felt  trapped and breathless, like the room was shrinking and he couldn’t draw air into his lungs. 

He needed to get away. Now. 

\---

Lance’s eyes were trained on the floor and his hands were gripping the back of Hunk’s shirt. He told himself, when Shiro's growling stopped, that it wasn't like he was scared or anything, he just didn't like people getting on his face. And if Hunk wanted to stand between them who was he to stop it? Getting on the way of things that seemed to want to hurt Lance was kind of what Hunk did and was just about the only thing making sense to Lance at the moment. 

Shiro turned on his heel and left the room practically at a run, tail lashing behind him. Lance watched...sort of. As much as he could without actually looking up from the floor, something he couldn't seem to make himself do. He felt like there was something tight around his chest, coiled and pressing all the air out of like he'd been caught by a snake and when he thought about looking up it constricted more. 

He felt...strange when the door slid shut behind Shiro. Like his heart was being gripped in a vice and squeezed.

_ Mate _

His mind was frantic, thoughts tumbling together as they raced. He could barely grasp one, make it settle long enough for him to really think things through, and yet there was a steady pulse, above all the thoughts, that demanded his attention even though it made no sense.

_ Submitsubmitalphasubmit _

Keith shouted after Shiro; it was an ice pick to Lance's head. The  _ ears _ were sensitive to sound it seemed. Everything felt sensitive really; strong smells were burning his nose, the lights were making his head pound, even his tongue, now pressed against the back of his teeth, didn't feel right. 

Neither did his teeth and, as a shiver crawled up his spine he thought about how Shiro, teeth bared and entirely too sharp. Were his like that? He was almost afraid to find out.

“What the hell Lance?” Keith hissed as he rounded on them; Lance could see his hands were balled up at his sides.“Why the fuck would you do that?”

Lance winced and shuffled closer to Hunk. He wanted to snap back, to tell Keith to back off, to get in his face and see how he liked it...but he didn't. Couldn't. Wanted to shrink himself and stay behind Hunk and what the fuck? He sure as hell wasn't hiding from Keith and yet he couldn't make himself move any further. His body was stone, heavy, rooted to the spot, and the pounding in his head was getting worse.

“Look,” He started, mentally cringing when it didn't sound nearly as biting as he wanted it to. “I thought you were messing with me. Like. A fake tail or something.” 

He hadn't expected Shiro to react like that or...anything at all, really. Maybe the tail coming off in his hand or everyone laughing before admitting they were screwing around with the unconscious guy. Any of that would have been able to accept than that he'd actually grown cat ears while he was knocked out. 

Allura made an offered sound. “I told you that wasn't the case. Why would we do something like that?”

He didn't have a response to that. He knew that it had been dumb; the ears were clearly real. He could feel them up there, hear through them, but it didn't- Humans didn't just grow ears! That was not a thing that happened. 

“Idiot.” Keith muttered. “You are such an idiot.” 

Lance frowned and glared at the floor, because seriously fuck Keith, but it was Hunk who spoke. 

“Hey, Lance didn't make Shiro freak out like that. Not that he should go around grabbing people's tails,” Hunk did disapproval better than almost anyone Lance knew. He'd come home with him a few times and within a single meeting had been given Abuelita a run for her money in the ‘scolding Lance while disappointed’ department. “But that doesn't excuse Shiro.” 

Keith was quiet then, with a huff, he was leaving the room too. Lance heard him, so soft he was sure they weren't actually meant to hear it, mutter that he was going to find Shiro before stepping out of the room. The snake around his chest loosened and he felt like he could move again, all the tension in his body draining out at once.

Hunk twisted around to look at him; Lance looked up to meet his gaze. “What's going on with you?”

“Other than suddenly being a...werecat?” Lance asked dully. 

“Werelion actually.” Pidge supplied helpfully. Lance glared over at her but she just smiled serenely at him. 

Hunk was far less amused. “You just let  _ Keith _ yell at you and didn't say anything back. That's way stranger than growing a tail.”

“I do not have a tail.” He scoffed, completely aware that Hunk was right and that he was deflecting. But, most importantly, he did nit have a tail. Did he? No. He'd know if he did right? That was the sort of thing he'd be able to feel, right? Like he felt the ears. 

Coran stepped towards him, waving a small device. “If you'll just strip down for a quick scan I'm sure we'll know one way or the other. It would be most interesting if you didn't, almost more interesting than if you did.” 

Lance cringed; why did Coran look so excited? 

_ Be calm _

“You grow cat ears and then try to be calm.” Lance snapped. Hunk’s eyebrows went up and as Lance took in the various surprised faces around him he realized that none of them had spoken. And that they were looking at him like he was crazy. 

Which, hey, who knew? 

_ Calm. Safe.  _ This came with an image of Blue’s cockpit, of his seat, and with a soothing rumble he felt down to his bones. He did feel safest when he was in his lion, safer than he did anywhere else out in space anyway and-

Wait. 

“Blue?” He asked the air, half expecting the lion to appear before him. A warm purr and a feeling like something had brushed against his ears, the new ones, was his answer.

He and his lion were close, maybe closer than any of the others were with their lions, but he usually got impressions and hints, not...words. 

With a voice. 

And not from so far away. And he’d never felt like it-she? Yes, that felt right- was touching him before. But there it was again, a gentle touch at the base of the ears. It was...nice, sort of, if he ignored the freakiness of it. 

Allura and Coran exchanged looks then, with a carefulness that was exaggerated carefulness, asked: “Lance. Are you hearing Blue right now?”

“Because that would be weird at this point?” 

“No. Shiro said Black talked to him earlier.” Pidge made a face. “Lucky.” 

Yes. Lucky. Lance felt all kinds of lucky to have what was basically a sentient space ship beaming thoughts into his head. 

_ Brat _

“Rude.” 


End file.
